Gallery: Volunteer performer pens book about Opening Ceremony

HE was part of the greatest show on earth and now Russell Moon is sharing his experience of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony with the world.

London 2012 in numbers

65 medals won by Team GB

27 world records broken

10,091 athletes

36 sports

4 billion global viewers

11 million printed tickets

85 countries won medals

5/8/2016 - the date Rio 2016 begins

Six months after the world’s eyes turned to the capital, Mr Moon, of Orford Street in Ipswich, has put pen to paper to tell his tale, having volunteered as a performer in the ceremony on July 27 last year.

His new book Days of Wonders encapsulates his experience from his first audition and through months of rehearsals to his delight at the worldwide reaction on the big day.

With more than 70 behind-the-scenes photographs, the book shares Mr Moon’s journey to the start of the Olympic Games.

“It was an experience that I will remember forever,” the consultant headteacher said. “It was amazing.

“The idea behind writing this book and putting all these pictures together was so that my family would be able to keep it. It is something we can all look back on forever.

“Then a lot of my friends read it and they loved it so I thought I would make it available to the volunteers and now finally I have made it available for everyone.

“It was an experience I will never forget and I just think it is great to be able to give people an idea of what was happening behind the scenes.

“It covers my journey from my first auditions and meeting Danny Boyle and Sebastian Coe – who are both really lovely people.

“Danny would come out and give us so much encouragement when it was raining during rehearsals. He would lift everyone’s spirits and he was also very encouraging in the sense that he was very keen for us volunteers to interpret things in our own ways for the performance.”

The 55-year-old was one of the 10,000 performers to take part in the spectacle. He was one of the villagers in the prequel to the main ceremony and took part in a football match which became a celebration of rugby.

He was part of the first scene broadcast to the world after Bradley Wiggins rang the bell.